NYSC 5 : Kidnappers insist on =N=100m. As Corps Members refuse to wear uniform in Rivers

Amaechi

•Corps members refuse to wear uniforms in Rivers

The kidnappers of the five National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Rivers State, who on Thursday demanded N100 million ransom before the youths could regain their freedom, yesterday insisted on taking N20 million per person, but now from government.





The hoodlums, who had contacted families of the victims (four females and one male), said they preferred either the Rotimi Amaechi administration or the Federal Government, to quickly pay the ransom.
At the peak of militancy, kidnapping and cult war in Rivers State and other parts of the Niger Delta, before the Federal Government’s amnesty offer to repentant militants, Amaechi had declared that he would never negotiate with any "criminal".
Some of the corps members who spoke but preferred to remain anonymous said since the kidnappers were now targeting corps members, they had decided that they would no longer go about wearing their uniforms.
The corps members also pleaded with the gunmen to unconditionally release the victims, considering what they would be going through in the forest in this rainy season, with mosquitoes and dangerous animals in the bush.
The youths added that the kidnap would discourage other corps members from accepting to serve in Rivers State and other parts of the Niger Delta.
In a telephone interview yesterday, the Rivers Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Ben Ugwuegbulam, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) expressed optimism that the five youths would soon regain their freedom, considering the efforts of officers and men of the command.
Ugwuegbulam added that the command was still investigating the abduction, with policemen on the trail of the kidnappers.
Investigations revealed that two of the kidnapped youths are married women, with their apprehensive husbands and relatives of others, frequently visiting the Rivers State Secretariat of the NYSC, along Ikwerre Road in Port Harcourt, to gather information and also regularly meeting with the Rivers NYSC’s Coordinator, Mrs. Esther Wogbo.
Wogbo confirmed in a telephone interview that the ransom was mentioned to the families of the corps members, and that efforts were being made, in collaboration with the police and the State Security Service (SSS), to ensure immediate release of the youths.
The corps members were kidnapped by gun men around 7:30 pm on Tuesday at Omademe in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, where Governor Rotimi Amaechi hails from.
The youth corps members were in the car of one of them and were on their way from Omademe, where they went to inspect a library they built for the Community Secondary School, as part of their community development projects, ahead of their passing out on June 16.




The youths wanted to be sure that the library would be ready before the passing out and formally hand it over before leaving Rivers State.

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